A Second Chance
by awrestlinggod
Summary: AU. Paul has spent a year in jail and needs a fresh start. He thinks that he is about to get one but it does not go as planned when he meets his new boss Stephanie. He has already met Stephanie before in a very different set of circumstances. Rated M for Language/Sexual Content/Violence.
1. Chapter 1

Dave Batista watched his friend Paul Levesque walk out of his parents house and approach the car. He took in the dark blue business suit, white shirt and red tie that he was wearing and the fact that his long blonde hair was tied neatly into a ponytail. As Paul got into the car Dave said, "I would never have believed it, you almost look professional."

Paul said, "Don't start Dave, I've been nervous about today for a week. I'm still not sure how you got me this job."

Dave pulled the car out into a gap in the traffic and headed downtown towards the office. He said, "I already told you man, Stephanie is a very kind person and a good boss. She gave you this three month trial solely on my recommendation, despite your... record."

Paul was still unsure, "But I don't understand anything about being an assistant to someone. I've never worked in an office."

Dave laughed, "Bro you have to answer calls and reply to emails and boring crap like that. You could train a monkey to do it... or even you. Just don't let me down and fuck this up."

"I won't and uh... thanks Dave. Seriously, I would never have found anything decent after being in jail. A year of my life wasted and for what?"

Dave said, "Don't get worked up about it now, we'll be there soon and you need to make a good impression."

Paul said, "Anything else I need to know before we get there?"

Dave shrugged as he concentrated on the traffic, "Stephanie will tell you exactly what she wants you to do but basically the company has taken off well since she launched it and it's getting too busy for her to handle all of her calls and things. Luckily she asked me if I knew anyone who would be interested and I put in a word for you."

Paul was doubtful, "And she just said I could have the job?"

"No, I explained that you had been in jail but I swore to her that you didn't deserve it and you were the kind of person who should be given a second chance in life. She agreed to give you this three month trial. As I said Stephanie's a real nice person."

Fifteen minutes later Dave had parked the car and the entered the lobby of the huge building. Dave said, "We're on the third floor."

Paul pressed the button to call the elevator, "You said this company hasn't been open for long and yet the offices are in this place?"

The elevator arrived and Dave said, "Yeah Stephanie has money. I think she sold her share in a family business or something. All I can tell you for sure is that she knows advertising and marketing because this company is flying big time already."

Paul laughed, "It still makes me laugh every time that I think about you being an accountant."

The elevator arrived on the third floor, "I'm not an accountant, dick head. I work in accounts, that doesn't make me an accountant."

Paul had for some reason expected that his new employer would occupy the whole of the third floor but he realised that it was in fact shared with another company. There was a set of large, stylish glass doors to the right engraved with a black M logo and the words McMahon Advertising. Paul said, "Very classy."

They walked into the offices and Paul was impressed by what he saw. A lot of money had been spent on making this place look impressive, both on the decoration and the furniture. It wasn't a large office but there were five other people working. He asked, "Where do I go?"

Dave said, "We're a couple of minutes early, Stephanie will be in at nine. Let's get a coffee."

They walked over to the coffee machine and Dave showed Paul how to work it. He teased, "You'd better get used to this Paul. It will probably be your main job."

Paul took the cup that Dave held out to him, "Thanks. Fetching coffee all day sounds like an easy way to make money." After a moment Paul asked, "So tell me more about the boss. Is she hot?"

Dave laughed, "Fully hot but don't start that. You're here to work for her and you're on trial remember. In any case she's got something going on with some... there they are now."

Paul turned towards the door and was stunned at what he saw. He studied his new boss carefully for a second and then sighed, "Oh shit."

"What do you mean oh shit?"

Paul said, "㈷9I'm just going to get out of here."

Dave was totally confused, "What's wrong with you?"

Paul closed his eyes as he answered, "Remember the other week when I got out of the hole and you were supposed to meet me for a beer but you no showed on me?"

Dave said, "I already told you my mom got sick and..."

"Yeah yeah I know that. The point is I went for a few drinks anyway and I ended up talking to some sexy dark haired woman with legs that went on forever and a stunning smile who was also drowning her sorrows. One thing led to another and she ended up at my place and I fucked her. In the morning she was gone."

Dave's mouth had dropped open, "You're not saying..."

"Yes I am. I've fucked your boss, my boss apparently."

Dave said, "But that's her boyfriend she just walked in with. Guy's a prick. English guy called Wade Barrett, he's seriously bad news. They're always on again off again."

"Well they were off that night," Paul said.

Dave said, "I don't believe you. I really don't believe you. Of all the women you could have picked up you somehow manage to pick the one who is... was about to give you a job."

Paul said, "Well I didn't know that then did I?"

Stephanie and her boyfriend had entered her office and closed the door. Dave said, "Well you've got to at least go and speak to her."

Paul sighed, "Fuck my life."


	2. Chapter 2

Paul and Dave watched Stephanie's boyfriend leave her office a few minutes later and Dave said, "Come on, let's get this over with."

Paul hesitated, "I really think it would be best if I just take off."

Dave insisted, "No way. Who knows maybe she was too drunk to remember you or something?"

Paul boasted, "Oh she'll remember me man, don't worry about that."

Dave laughed as they headed over to Stephanie's office. The door was open slightly and Dave put his head around it, "Morning boss, Paul is here if you're ready to..."

Paul heard Stephanie say, "Morning Dave, send him in please."

Dave turned around and grinned at Paul, "You can go in now."

Paul took a deep breath and walked past Dave and into Stephanie's office. As he entered he said, "Good morning."

Stephanie looked at him and smiled and said, "Good morning." For a second Paul thought that maybe she really wouldn't remember him but then he saw her eyes narrow slightly and she said, "Sorry do I..." The smile faded from her face and she said, "Oh god, I remember you."

Paul sighed, "Yeah I remembered too when I saw you. I'll just get out of here."

Stephanie closed her eyes for a few seconds but eventually she said, "Sit down Paul."

Paul said, "It's ok, really I'll just..."

Stephanie insisted, "Sit down."

Paul did as he had been told and Stephanie said, "Why were you in jail?"

Paul was surprised, "What?"

Stephanie said calmly, "If I'm going to hire an assistant it's not going to be someone that I have to repeat everything to. I asked why you were in jail?"

Paul said, "I beat a guy half to death. I was lucky to only get a year."

Stephanie's eyes widened, "Well I can't say that you're not honest can I? Why would you do that to someone?"

Paul hesitated, "I'd rather not talk about it."

Stephanie reasoned, "I'm trying to offer you the second chance that Dave told me you deserved. How about you help me out here?"

Paul sighed, "Fine. To make a long story short a friend of mine has a sister and she was raped by someone. She was too scared to go to the cops so my friend went to them instead but they didn't give a damn because she wouldn't talk to them herself. My friend told me who did it so I went to his place and gave him some justice of my own. I went too far and half killed the guy and I ended up being the one in jail while that bastard... excuse me, that guy got away with what he did."

Stephanie said quietly, "Bastard was the right word."

Paul said, "One thing I can not stand is men being violent towards women. It sends me over the edge."

Stephanie noted his tone as he said it and said nothing. After a long moment of silence she asked, "You want to know what I think?"

Paul said honestly, "I don't know if I want to know what you think."

Stephanie smiled, "I think Dave was right, I think you are a guy who deserves a second chance. I'm prepared to give you this trial contract on one condition."

Paul said eagerly, "Name it?"

"That night... me and you... it didn't happen. It's forgotten about. I have a boyfriend and a business to run. Can we agree on that?"

Paul felt disappointed for a reason that he didn't understand but he nodded and said, "Yes."

Stephanie beamed and held her out to Paul, "Then I have an assistant."

Paul smiled and shook her hand, "You do. Uh... boss..."

"Stephanie. Dave keeps calling me boss to irritate me, I don't like things too formal with my staff. Unless there are clients in here of course."

Paul said, "Of course... Stephanie... you do know that I've never worked in an office before, right?"

Stephanie smiled and Paul saw genuine warmth in it which put him at ease a little. He thought, "Maybe Dave was right, she really is a very nice person? So why was this nice, beautiful, obviously rich business woman in that bar that night putting away more drink than I could and going back to some guys parents place for some quick, dirty sex? It makes no sense. I'm sure not going to ask her." He realised that he had totally missed what Stephanie had just said so he asked, "Sorry, what?"

Stephanie raised an eyebrow, "That wasn't a difficult pair of questions Paul. I asked can you use a phone, and can you use a computer?"

"Of course I can."

Stephanie said, "Then with some basic training you can do this job," she reached into one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out two documents and slid them across the desk towards Paul, "Company policies and your trial contract. Take twenty four hours to read them and make sure that you're happy with everything and if you are sign them both and be here with them before nine tomorrow morning. Everything clear?"

Paul said, "I can start right now."

Stephanie said without hostility, "The way this assistant position will work Paul is that I'll tell whoever I hire to do something and they'll do it. If I wanted someone to discuss everything that I say I would hire an assistant manager or something."

Paul said apologetically, "Right, sorry. I'll read through these and come back tomorrow then."

Stephanie smiled again and Paul found himself thinking about how attractive it was as she said, "Good. The money is nothing special but it's fair for the position that I'm offering..."

Paul said half jokingly, "It's better than anything else I could have found and there will be opportunities for promotion, right?"

Stephanie laughed, "I like you Paul. It's good to have humor in the office. A happy team is a productive team. Let's at least have you finish your trial before we consider promotion."

Paul only heard the first few words. He told himself, "Don't start that, you know exactly what she meant. Also she's already told you that you need to forget that night." He then found himself thinking, "But she's mad hot. I was so drunk that night that I don't remember exactly what it was like. If only I could..."

He snapped himself out of it as he heard, "Something else you needed?"

Paul said, "Uh... no Stephanie and thank you so much for this. I'll be back tomorrow."

Stephanie nodded and Paul left the office with a smile on his face.

Stephanie watched him leave and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. The pain in her stomach was quite bad. She wondered "What would Wade do if he found out about that night with Paul? If he punches me in the stomach for being home late from my parents... And after what Paul said... he's already done jail time... This could become a real mess if I'm not careful."


	3. Chapter 3

Stephanie sat in her office after Paul had left and thought, "What were the chances? Of all the people in the world to walk in here it was him. I thought I would never see him again. I think I made a good job of making like I didn't instantly recognise him. How could I not after that night? I don't know how he remembers it, he was much more drunk than I was. I remember it though, my god I remember it. I've never felt like I did when he touched me... I need to stop thinking about it, I have a boyfriend for god's sake and this is exactly what he keeps accusing me of. Why did I just hire the guy then? I promised Dave that I would do and he really does need a second chance in life, that's why. That's the only reason. Nothing else. It's got to be strictly professional between us."

* * *

><p>Stephanie drove home that evening feeling sad. Her stomach hurt from where Wade had hit her. She thought, "That's the fifth time that he has done something like that in the last couple of months, and for what? Getting home an hour later from mom and dad's than I had told him I would? I know how things have gotten to be like this, it all changed when I lost the baby. If only I hadn't fallen down the stairs at mom and dads, I'm so clumsy and stupid. It's really all my fault, I feel guilty every day. My stupidity killed our baby, it's no surprise that he's angry all of the time." She wiped the tears from her cheeks and tried to blink them from her eyes and focus on the road.<p>

Her mind continued to wander, "We used to be so happy until then but now he's always angry with me and he always gets paranoid about where I am and what I'm doing. If only I could get pregnant again maybe that would fix things between us? I only want us to be happy. I try my best to be nice to people, surely being happy myself isn't too much to ask?"

She felt guilty again as she remembered, "That night when Wade accused me of being late home because I was seeing someone else and I told him not to be stupid and he slapped me... what did I do? I went out and had a few drinks and did exactly what he was accusing me of, I slept with Paul and then lied that I slept at mom and dad's place. And now I've hired him. What the hell am I doing?"

Stephanie pulled her car into the driveway of the large four bedroom house that they had bought together when they had found out that she was pregnant. Now it was just going to be the two of them. She felt tears fill her eyes again as she parked next to Wade's Mercedes. She turned off the engine and got out of the car and wiped a tear from her cheek. She locked the black BMW and walked up to the front door. Before she unlocked it she checked her watch and was relieved to see that she was home on time.

She unlocked the door and walked in, noticing the pleasant smell of food cooking. Wondering what reaction she would get she called out, "I'm home."

Wade came out of the kitchen and said pleasantly in his gruff English accent, "Hello princess, good day?"

Stephanie smiled, partly in relief, "Yes thank you. How about you?"

Wade kissed her and said, "Very good. I'm cooking us dinner and I thought we could share a bottle of wine and have an early night?"

Stephanie took off her suit jacket and felt pain in her stomach again. She said, "That would be nice. I'm going to go upstairs and change."

Wade said, "No rush, dinner won't be ready for a while yet."

Stephanie walked upstairs and each step hurt her stomach. She entered the bedroom and as she removed her blouse she saw bruising had already appeared on the right side of her stomach and it looked horrible. This was the first time that she had actually been hurt when Wade had hit her, previously he had slapped her but this had been a serious punch in the stomach. She felt tears fill her eyes again as she looked at it and remembered how she had doubled over and then crumpled to the kitchen floor, crying in pain and she thought, "Why would he do this to me?"

She began to cry again and she told herself, "I can't let this keep happening. I need to stand up to him and make him realise that this is wrong. He loves me, I know he does. We can get past this." At least tonight is going to be ok, dinner and wine will be nice and then an early night. He must still love me if he wants that."

* * *

><p>Dave had given Paul a ride to the office again. Paul knew that the first thing he had to do when he had money was buy a car. Even if it was a piece of crap at least he could get around. Paul had never had much money but he had been ok before he was sent to jail but then his parents had had to sell his car to pay off the rent he ended up owing on the apartment that he wasn't even living in. Now he had nothing apart from a bed at his parents place. He really was starting his life over. Paul was determined to look on the positive side, things could only improve from here and at least he now had a job.<p>

As they walking into the office Paul said, "This will be a good start. Stephanie said to be here before nine and it's five after. Stupid traffic."

Dave said, "Yeah it's strange, some mornings it's quiet and then other times it's crazy busy. I'll get you ten minutes earlier tomorrow."

Paul smiled at his friend, "Thanks man, wish me luck."

Dave said, "You won't need it, Stephanie won't say anything. If anything she's too nice to run a company, I've never heard her yell at anyone. We're going out for lunch, right?"

Paul said, "Yeah," and headed over to Stephanie's office. The door was slightly open, Paul knocked and walked in and saw that Stephanie was in there but so was her boyfriend. Paul said, "Good morning Stephanie. I signed the contract and these uh... policies, " He placed both documents on her desk.

Stephanie smiled, "Thank you Paul. Can you give me a minute, we'll talk later."

Paul smiled at Stephanie and nodded at her boyfriend and left the office. As he was closing the door he heard the boyfriend say, "You let people just walk into your office like that and you don't say anything?"

Paul thought, "Prick." He noticed that a desk had been placed just outside of Stephanie's office and there was a leather chair, a phone and a computer there too. As with everything else in this place it all looked expensive. He figured, "This must be my desk I guess."

He sat down and tested the chair for comfort and found it to be very good. He turned on the computer but had no idea what to do next so he sat and looked around the office at everyone else working on their computers or making calls. Paul felt out of place in this environment, "Maybe I should have just kept trying to get some minimum wage job in a factory or something."

A few minutes later Stephanie's boyfriend left her office and walked past Paul without even a glance at him. A further minute later Stephanie called him into her office. Paul walked in and said, "Sorry about walking in like that before..."

Stephanie smiled, "Forget it. I'm going to have someone work with you today and show you how things work on the computer system, how things are filed, stuff like that. Tomorrow I have someone coming in to give you some basic telephone training."

Paul said, "Sounds good."

Stephanie said, "Let's go find someone to work with you," as she stood up quickly from behind her desk Paul saw her wince and instinctively place a hand on the right side of her stomach.

He asked, "Are you ok?"

Stephanie said, "Yeah uh... stomach cramps. I've been having them all morning. Follow me, how are you at making coffee?"

Paul thought, "I know what bullshit sounds like. Stomach cramps huh?" He attempted to dismiss it as he answered Stephanie's question, "You'll love my coffee."

As they walked out of the office Stephanie laughed, "Then you'll do well here."


	4. Chapter 4

Stephanie had avoided any grief by arriving home early that night. She felt happy as she sat watching TV with Wade after they had eaten dinner, hoping that tonight would be as nice as last night. He had been quiet during the meal which had put her on edge. A few minutes later she sensed that this night probably would not be like the previous one as Wade asked, "So who's the arsehole?"

Stephanie said quietly, "It's asshole not 'arsehole' and I don't know who you're talking about."

Wade said irritably, "Let me remind you then. Long blonde hair like a fucking woman, wears a suit that doesn't fit him properly and doesn't know to wait outside of an office until he's asked to enter. You've just hired him. Ringing any bells so far?"

Not wanting an argument Stephanie said softly, "That's Paul. You're right, I just hired him."

Wade still sounded irritable, "I know you've hired him, I'm not a fucking idiot. I've never seen anyone look so uncomfortable in an office so my question is hired him for what?"

Stephanie knew that this was not going to go well as she said nervously, "I needed an assistant and Dave told me about..."

Wade turned to face her and said angrily, "You hired that guy to be your assistant?"

Stephanie said even more nervously, "Yes."

Wade demanded, "Any reason why you can't get some girl who just finished college like anyone else would do?"

"I asked around the office and Dave mentioned Paul so I just figured that would be the simplest thing."

Wade raged, "Bullshit!" and raised his right hand to slap Stephanie.

Stephanie flinched away and raised her hands defensively and pleaded, "No, please don't. You hurt me the night before last."

Wade lowered his hand and asked sympathetically, "Oh did I?"

Stephanie stood, which hurt, and raised the bottom half of her t-shirt revealing the bruising on her stomach which looked even worse than it had the night before. Wade stood up and said, "Let me look at that."

Stephanie said softly, sadly, "It really hurts."

Wade asked kindly as he studied the bruise, "Does it?"

"Yes."

Wade punched Stephanie hard in the same place that she was already hurt and as she screamed in pain and doubled over and then collapsed to the floor he yelled, "How about now you bullshitting little bitch? Does it hurt now?"

Stephanie curled up on the floor with both hands covering her stomach and cried in agony and fear.

Wade raged, "Why did you hire him? Are you fucking him? You're fucking him aren't you?"

Stephanie pleaded from the floor between her gasped breaths, "No... I'm not... please... don't hurt me."

"If I find out you've been near that guy or anyone else.."

Stephanie sobbed, "I haven't... I won't..."

"Make sure you fucking don't and don't try bullshitting me either. You bring this on yourself you stupid bitch," he walked out of the room.

Stephanie lay in the same position and cried uncontrollably. She had never felt pain this bad in her life, it was unbearable. She tried to get up but it hurt too much to move, it was excruciatingly painful so she just lay there and cried.

She thought, "He's right though... I did sleep with Paul. Maybe I deserve this. I am a bullshitting bitch. Maybe he's right about everything he says about me? I have no friends, I suck at running a business..."

She managed to lift herself to a sitting position with her back against the couch and her hands still clamped over her stomach. The pain had not lessened at all. It was so bad that it took her breath away if she tried to move.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there and crying for when Wade walked back in. She begged as tears streamed down her face, "Please don't hit me again. I think I need to go to the hospital."

Wade said quietly, "Don't over react Stephanie. I'm sorry for hitting you but you know I don't like you being around other guys."

Stephanie pleaded, "Please... it really hurts. I can't even stand up."

Wade said, "Come here," and gently picked her up in his arms and she cried out in pain.

He carried her upstairs and gently placed her on the bed. He said, "Lie there where you can be comfortable. I'll get you some pills."

Stephanie continued to cry due to the pain. When Wade returned she said, "I need the hospital."

"No you don't. Take these and you'll be ok. I'm sorry Stephanie, really I am. Do you forgive me?" He handed her some pills.

She took them from him and thought, "How else can I possibly respond?" And she said, "Yes. I need some water to take these."

"Of course, I'll get some for you."

When he returned with the water Stephanie used it to wash the pills down and Wade said, "I'll sleep downstairs tonight so that you will uh... be comfortable."

He turned out the light and left the bedroom and Stephanie lay in the dark and began to cry again. The pain was still incredible. She thought, "How long will these pills take to do something? I won't be able to sleep with this pain. At least Wade offered to sleep downstairs, he obviously realises that this has gone too far. Maybe this will be the turning point for us?"

The same thoughts as earlier fought their way back into her mind, "He's right I am a bullshitting bitch. I did sleep with Paul behind his back and I lied about it. I keep thinking about Paul too. I deserve this. I'm a liar like he says and I'm useless like he says. I lost our baby through my own stupidity and I'm no good a running my company. I have no friends, he's the only one who cares about me. Wade is right about everything he says, I'm completely useless and I'm a liar. It's no surprise that he hits me."


	5. Chapter 5

Stephanie realised that she had somehow managed to sleep as her alarm began chirping and woke her. She was immediately hit by pain which did not surprise her. She gasped as she sat up and instinctively held her stomach. She realised that she had crawled under the covers still wearing her clothes. There was enough light coming through the curtains to see clearly so after a few moments she persuaded herself to remove her t-shirt and check out her stomach. As she did so she said aloud, "Oh my god."

She saw that the bruising on her stomach looked hideous. She was no nurse but she could tell that this wasn't good. She thought, "I've got so much to get done at work, I have to go in. Wade is right, I'm doing a terrible job of running the place as it is. I can't start taking time off. If this still hurts as much tonight I'll get checked out then."

She struggled to take a shower as standing up hurt as did moving around trying to wash herself.

Eventually, having taken a lot longer than usual she was finally ready for work. She had managed to fix her hair and make up as usual, she didn't want anyone in the office to know that anything was out of the ordinary.

She walked downstairs and saw that Wade was already set to leave for work. She thought, "He's probably going to follow me to the office and walk me in as usual. I'd prefer that he didn't today but..."

Wade said brightly, "Good morning princess."

Stephanie said quietly, "Hey."

He asked, "Don't I get a kiss?"

She reached up to do as he asked and couldn't help groaning in pain as she kissed him.

He made no mention of what had happened as they left the house and got into their cars.

* * *

><p>Paul and Dave stood by the coffee machine in the office. Stephanie and her boyfriend had just walked in more than twenty minutes later than usual. Paul, "Dave I think something is going on with them."<p>

Dave sniggered, "I bet there is. Something would be going on if I was with her, every night of the..."

Paul cut him off, "Not that you idiot. You are right though... anyway what I was talking about was that yesterday I was in her office and she stood up and it hurt her, she winced and held her side."

Dave sipped his coffee, "Did you ask about it?"

"Yeah and she said stomach cramps but I didn't buy it."

Dave asked, "What are you saying?"

"You said the boyfriend was bad news, you think he might be hitting her?"

Dave shook his head, "No... the guy might be a prick but who would beat their own girlfriend?"

Paul snorted, "You'd be surprised. Something's not right for sure. I got to thinking, why was she even in that bar that night when I met her? It doesn't exactly seem like her scene does it?"

Dave drank more of his coffee, "No I suppose it doesn't but you can't complain can you?"

Paul asked, "What do you mean?"

Dave said, "Bro have you even seen Stephanie? She's crazy hot and way out of our league and yet you've fucked her. Lucky bastard."

If he had been paying attention Dave might have noticed Wade walking past them to leave the office but he wasn't paying attention and neither was Paul and Wade heard what Dave had said as he walked past and left the office.

Paul said, "I already told you man, Stephanie told me quite clearly to forget that that even happened."

Dave slapped him on the shoulder, "You're right, sorry. I'd better get to work, so should you actually."

Paul smiled and walked over to Stephanie's office. The door was open so he walked in and said, "Good morning Stephanie."

Stephanie smiled, "Hi Paul. Was everything ok yesterday? I didn't get a chance to speak with you before you left."

Paul said, "Yes thank you. I've got the basics of the computer system figured out and I'm ready for phone training today."

"That's great. My emails are now coming to your computer?"

Paul nodded, "They are. I know what to do, reply to anything that you don't need to see personally myself. I might need to ask you quite often to begin with..."

Stephanie smiled again, "Of course. There's one other thing, we should swap cell phone numbers in case one of us is out of the office and we need to contact each other."

Paul said, "Sure. I'm going to work out of the office?" He took the business card that Stephanie held out to him.

"Unlikely but I'll be out sometimes in meetings with clients, stuff like that." Paul called Stephanie's number from his phone and they both saved the numbers. She said, "Ok that's all, I'll have a coffee please and then you can get on."

Paul smiled, "Ok."

* * *

><p>Paul walked into Stephanie's office that afternoon and asked, "Stephanie if you have a minute could you just come and look at a couple of these emails? I replied to most of them but I think you might need to look at these yourself."<p>

Stephanie looked up from her computer screen, "Can't you print them and bring them in?"

Paul hadn't considered that, "Uh... I don't think I'm connected to a printer. Could you just look quickly and I can get on?"

Stephanie stood and Paul saw the pain in her face as she did so and he also saw that she was trying to hide it. He suddenly realised that she had only left her office once all day which wasn't at all like the day before when she had been in and out talking to people quite often. He thought, "What's going on here? She's in pain, clearly. Should I just ask her? No I can't. Just keep your mouth shut and do your job Paul."

He led Stephanie to his desk and she looked at the emails that he asked her about and she told him how to respond to them. Paul made a good job of making it look like an accident but it wasn't, he let his pen roll off the desk and it landed right next to Stephanie. Instead of instinctively picking it up as anyone would normally do she stepped back and said, "I uh... can't get that."

Paul leaned down and picked up the pen and couldn't help himself, "What's wrong with your side Stephanie? I can tell that it hurts more than yesterday."

Stephanie lied unconvincingly, "I told you yesterday... stomach cramps."

Paul took a risk, "If he hits you again you call me."

Paul saw the reaction in her eyes but Stephanie said heatedly, "Mind your own business and do your job," she walked back into her office and closed the door.

Paul thought, "Well that confirms it as much as her telling me the truth would have done. That son of bitch is hitting her, I know he is."

Stephanie closed the door to her office and tears filled her eyes. She returned to her chair and as the pain hit her as she lowered herself into it she thought, "He knows, I guess it's quite obvious. As if I would call him if Wade hits me again. Paul would show up and beat the hell out of him and then he would leave me. He won't hit me again anyway as long as I don't do anything wrong. He loves me."

* * *

><p>Stephanie decided not to go the hospital after work to get checked out. She figured that if she could make it through the day at work then it wasn't as bad as she thought. Wade was right, she was over reacting. She drove home, making sure that she would not be late. She thought, "At least he won't hit me again after last night. He realised that he went too far and hurt me. I bet he will make a nice dinner again to apologise. We can move past this now."<p>

When she arrived home she parked her car in the driveway and as she locked it and walked up to the front door she made sure that she had a smile on her face. She unlocked the door and walked in, calling out as she did so, "I'm home."


	6. Chapter 6

Stephanie called out as she entered the house, "I'm home." She closed the door and walked towards the living room. Wade came out of the doorway as she approached it and said without any particular tone to his voice, "Hello princess."

She reached up to kiss him and felt the pain in her stomach again. She had deliberately put off looking at her injury all day but now she decided that she really had to. She still could not do a simple thing like stretch to kiss her boyfriend without an incredible shooting pain. She said, "I'm going up to change."

"Ok."

Stephanie headed upstairs with each step bringing it's own dose of pain. She went into the bedroom and removed her jacket and her blouse. She looked at the hideous looking bruise that was spreading across her stomach and around her side. She jumped as she heard Wade say from the doorway, "I've been thinking about that."

Stephanie looked at him sadly, thinking that this was going to be an apology she said timidly, almost hopefully, "You have?"

He walked over to her, "Yeah. There's something I don't understand."

Stephanie asked, "What's that?"

Wade slapped her hard across the face and yelled, "Why you're a bullshitting slut?"

Stephanie held her face and yelped, "What was that for? I didn't do anything!"

Wade punched her, catching her just below the left eye and knocking her onto the bed, "Try again!"

Stephanie felt blood begin to flow onto her cheek and her head was spinning as he had come close to knocking her out. She cried out in terror, "Stop it please! Why are you doing this?"

Wade raged, "Tell me again that you haven't fucked Paul?"

Stephanie attempted to get off the bed, "I haven't..."

Wade grabbed her and hurled her across the room into the wall, "Liar! Fucking liar! Admit it!"

Stephanie hit the wall on her already injured side and crumpled to the floor in pain. She gasped out in desperation, "Ok I admit it please stop..."

Wade kicked her in the side, "Fucking slut!"

Adrenaline took over for Stephanie as she realised that she had to get away from this assault. Wade had totally lost it and she didn't know how far this would go. As Wade leaned over her to pull her to her feet she punched him below the belt as hard as she could manage and despite the pain that assaulted her and her still spinning head she managed to get to her feet as Wade did the opposite and went down to his knees in pain, holding both hands between his legs. She took the small chance that she had and half ran, half stumbled into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

She collapsed to the floor next to the toilet as her stomach and side hurt too much to stand and as she gasped for breath which for some reason was hard to do she saw blood dripping onto the toilet seat. She realised that it was coming from her cheek below her left eye and she panicked, "I must be cut badly. He's going to kill me. I've got to get out of here. Why did I run in here instead of downstairs? Now I'm trapped." A moment later she heard Wade shouting from the other side of the door, "Get out here Stephanie, now!"

Although Stephanie was only wearing her bra above her waist she still had her suit pants on and her phone was still in her pocket. She took it out with her shaking hand and did not consider how lucky she was that it had not been damaged when she had hit the bedroom wall side first. She tried to think who to call. In her panic the idea to call nine one one did not occur to her. She was about to call her dad when for some reason she remembered Paul telling her to call him if this happened. She decided to call Paul instead. If someone had to fight Wade off to protect her and get her out of here then Paul would be the guy that she needed. And he had told her to call him if this happened...

* * *

><p>Paul sat at home watching TV with his parents. He had just finished eating dinner and it had made him feel tired. He must have been drifting near to sleep because his phone startled him when it rang. He picked it up from the side of the couch where he had left it and was surprised to see Stephanie's name flashing at him. He walked out of the living room to give himself some privacy and answered, "Hello Stephanie."<p>

He heard some sounds that sounded like gasping or crying sounds and then quietly, "Help me Paul, please."

Immediately concerned he asked, "Stephanie? What's going on?"

Stephanie pleaded between her gasped breaths, "He's going to kill me. Please come. Please."

Paul rushed back into the living room and said to his dad, "I need to borrow the car dad."

"The keys are on the table in the kitchen, everything ok?"

Paul said, "I'll tell you later," as he raced into the kitchen and grabbed the keys, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He said to Stephanie, "I'm coming but I don't know where you live?"

She told him and he said in frustration, "I don't know where that is... wait I can use the satnav. Stay on the phone and I'll be there soon."

Stephanie said, "I'm in the bathroom but he's yelling that he's going to kick the door in."

Paul got into the car and started the engine and took what seemed like an age to type Stephanie's address into the satnav as he said, "Have you called the cops?"

"No, only you."

Paul didn't know why she had chosen to call him but this was hardly the time to question it. The satnav found her address and he was relieved when it told him that he was only ten minutes away from her. He knew it wouldn't take him as long as that. He said, "I'll be there real soon Stephanie. I'm on the way."

"Should I call them?"

Paul thought about it and decided, "No, I'll get you out of there. If I get there before they do and I have to fight your boyfriend the last thing I need is cops showing up. I'll end up back inside. Just hang on until I get there."

"Ok. I think he's gone away, he's stopped shouting."

Paul drove as fast as he could. Luckily the car was not a stick shift so he could stay on the phone and drive easily. He could tell that she was in a lot of pain by the sound of her breathing and her crying. Paul thought, "When I get there I can't beat the shit out of the guy no matter how badly I want to. I'll be back inside if I do. Maybe if I just hit him once and put his lights out? Definitely don't hit him more than once. Just get Stephanie out of there that's all that matters."

Paul realised that he had not spoken to Stephanie for a couple of minutes as he concentrated on the road as he really had to when driving this fast. He asked her, "Where are you hurt? What did he do?"

Stephanie's answer was quieter than before as she approached a state of shock, "I'm bleeding and I can't breathe properly. Please get me out of here."

Paul reassured her, "I'm only five minutes away now."

As he said it he heard a loud crash on the other end of the phone and Stephanie screamed. He heard her boyfriend yell, "Get off that fucking phone," and the call ended. Paul realised that he must have kicked the bathroom door in and then snatched Stephanie's phone or maybe smashed it. Paul raced through a red light, he didn't care any more. He just had to get to Stephanie.

* * *

><p>Stephanie's phone smashed against the wall and exploded into pieces. Wade raged, "Who did you fucking call?"<p>

Stephanie curled up on the floor to protect herself as much as possible and didn't answer.

Wade kicked her again in her injured side and as Stephanie screamed he also screamed, "Answer me!"

Stephanie gasped out, "Paul. I called Paul."

Another kick went in as he yelled, "You stupid bitch!"

* * *

><p>A few minutes later Paul's car screeched to a stop outside of the address that she had given him and he ran up the driveway. He looked at the sturdy wooden front door and realised that it was going to be difficult to kick it in. Maybe it was stupid to tell Stephanie not to call the cops? He figured he might have a better chance around the back of the house so he climbed over the tall gate and headed along the side of the house. He found a back door and tried it and mercifully it opened. At least he wouldn't add breaking into the house to whatever else was about to happen.<p>

He ran inside ready to take on Stephanie's boyfriend but as he ran upstairs and saw the bathroom door, the furthest from the stairs, which had been kicked in there was no sign of anyone. He shouted, "Stephanie?"

He heard her weak voice in the bathroom, "Paul."

He ran in there and saw her lying curled up on the floor wearing only suit pants and a bra and most of her face was covered in blood as was her chest and there was also blood on the floor. He knelt down next to her, "Oh my fucking god, what did he do to you? Where is he?"

Stephanie began sobbing with relief now that Paul was there but as she attempted to speak she had a coughing fit and she brought up some blood. Eventually she managed to say, "I told him that you were coming and he left."

Paul gently helped her to sit up and saw blood flowing from a nasty looking cut on her cheek below her left eye and he also saw bruising covering the right side of her stomach and her side. He grabbed a white towel and handed it to her, "Keep that pressed on your cheek." He watched her do as he had instructed with her shaking hands and then said, "I'm going to get you something to wear and then we're going to the hospital."

Stephanie dropped the towel and curled back up onto the floor as Paul left and continued crying. Paul walked into Stephanie's bedroom, feeling himself shaking with anger at what he had just seen. He found a blouse on the bed and he snatched it and rushed back into the bathroom, "Put this on, here let me help you."

He helped her to sit up again and then helped her put the blouse on, noticing how much each movement hurt her by the pain that was obvious on her face. When this was done he picked her up carefully but even so she cried out in agony at being moved. He picked up the towel again and said, "Hold this on your cheek," but she held onto him like a scared child and didn't take it from him.

Paul tossed the towel aside, deciding not waste any more time. He needed to get her to the hospital and do it fast. He carried her from the bathroom and as he carried her down the stairs her blood and tears stained his light grey t-shirt as she cried into his chest. He felt tears fill his own eyes as he thought, "How could anyone treat her like this? Hell how could anyone treat any woman like this? I'm lucky that that guy took off or I'd have ended up in jail again for sure, probably for life."

He carried her out of the front door and managed to close it behind him without putting her down. He asked her, "Can you sit or do you need to lie in the back?"

She managed to say, "In the back."

As he reached the car he said, "I've got put you down to open the car. Hold onto the car if you need to." Stephanie cried out in pain as Paul placed her on her feet and then had another coughing fit and brought up more blood. Paul looked at her in horror as he unlocked the car and helped her to lie down on the back seat. He said, "It's over now. You're away from him for good. I'll get you to the hospital now and you'll be ok."

She started crying again and said, "Thank you Paul. Thank you."

Paul got in and drove away, shocked at the state that Stephanie was in. He thought, "My god I bet the poor woman will be traumatised by this forever. How could he do this to her? I'll make sure that this never happens again. I'll be there for her and if he goes near her again I'll kill him myself, fuck the consequences. It's all over now Stephanie."


	7. Chapter 7

Paul carried Stephanie through the entrance into the ER and yelled, "I need some help over here!"

He saw some of the people in the waiting room look in his direction, apparently more in irritation that someone might move ahead of them in line than in concern for an injured woman judging by their expressions.

A dark haired, middle aged nurse hurried towards Paul and he said, "My friend was attacked by her boyfriend. She has a nasty cut on her cheek as you can see but I'm worried that she has internal bleeding or something."

The nurse said, "Follow me and I'll take a look."

Paul said to Stephanie as he carried her, "It's ok now. These people will take care of you." Stephanie clung to him, her eyes looked glazed and she said nothing. She hadn't said anything for the last few minutes. Paul guessed that she was in shock, hardly surprising considering what had been done to her. Paul found himself again thinking, "How could he do this to her? Look at the state she's in."

He followed the nurse through a set of double doors as she held one of them open for him and she gestured to an empty bed in the line that was against one wall, "Set her down over there. What's your name sweetheart?"

Paul helped out, "Stephanie," as he set her down gently on the bed. He saw that her cheek had finally almost stopped bleeding but it was already swollen and there was blood all over her from it. The front of his t-shirt was also covered in from the two times that he had carried her. Paul wished that he could do something to take away the incredible pain that she was obviously in. He would take it for her himself if he could.

The nurse brought his mind back to reality as she said, "I'm going to take some details and check you over now Stephanie," and she began to close the curtain around the bed. Paul realised that this was his cue to leave but Stephanie suddenly said quietly, "Paul?"

The nurse stopped as Paul said, "Yes I'm here."

"Can you call my parents?"

Paul said, "Sure but I need their number, your phone uh... isn't here."

Stephanie started to give him the number but he said, "Wait let me get my phone ready... ok I'm ready."

She gave him the number and Paul moved out of the way so that the examination could begin. He headed back outside to do as she had asked and realised that he hadn't asked what Stephanie's parents names were. It was too late now so he called the number.

After a few rings a rather deep male voice answered, "Hello?"

Paul said, "Uh... Mr. McMahon?"

"Who is this?"

Paul realised that he needed to mention Stephanie's name in case the guy hung up on him, "Stephanie asked me to call you. My name is Paul, you don't know me but I work for her..."

He was interrupted, "What do you mean Stephanie asked you to call? Why isn't she calling herself? What's going on?"

"We're at the hospital sir. Stephanie was beaten by her boyfriend..."

The voice yelled, "She was what? The son of a bitch..."

Paul cut in, "She's got a cut on her cheek and some nasty looking bruising... look just get down here. We're in the ER. Wait, you do live locally?"

"Yes we do, we'll be there soon. Why were you there when this happened?"

Paul hadn't expected that question, "Uh... I wasn't. Stephanie called me and I went over there as soon as I could. The guy had already left when I got there luckily for him. If I had been there when this happened he would be the one in the hospital bed, if he was lucky."

"Why did she call you?"

Paul said, "You tell me? Come down here and ask her. She called me and asked for help and I got there as quick as I could. Just get down here."

"Right. Uh... sorry and uh... thank you Paul."

Paul said, "No problem," and ended the call.

He attempted to return to Stephanie but as he went back through the double doors he saw that the curtain was still around her bed so he stood out of the way of everything that was going on around him and waited. As he did so he began to wonder, "Why did she call me? Why didn't she call the cops or her dad?" Eventually he thought, "Maybe because of what I said about standing up for Shawn's sister, that must be it. She knew how I feel about people abusing women so... hell I don't know. At least I helped her and she's away from that piece of shit."

He remembered how Stephanie had clung to him as he carried down her stairs and the state that she had been in and all he wanted to do was punch Wade and keep punching him until he had pounded his head flat. If he ever even saw Wade within sight of Stephanie again...

His thoughts were interrupted as the nurse came out from behind the curtain and Paul walked over to her, "What's the verdict?"

The nurse moved far enough away from the bed to not be heard by Stephanie and said, "I need a doctor to look at that bruising, she's coughed up blood so I know that there is internal bleeding and from the bruising I think that it may have been happening for a day or two. I think there are one or two, maybe three fractured ribs too. She's in a state of shock so when you speak to her you won't get much out of her. Those injuries are not from one assault that's for sure. I'd guess that she's been hit or kicked around that area at least five or six times over at least two attacks. My bet is that we'll have to admit her."

Paul said quietly, furiously, "Son of a bitch! Uh... sorry. So you need a doctor to look at her bruises and her ribs what about her cheek? That looked nasty to me."

"It's not as bad as it looks, just a lot of blood which I've cleaned up for her. I can suture it, I'll come do that soon."

Paul asked, "Can I sit with her while we wait for a doctor?"

"Yeah but I'm not sure how long it will be, we're short staffed. I'll be back soon to work on that cut."

Paul said, "Ok," and headed over to Stephanie's bed. She had a blanket covering her up to her neck now and the blood had been cleaned away from her face and neck. He said, "Stephanie, I got your dad on the phone and he's on his way, your mom too I guess."

Paul saw tears in her eyes as she said faintly, "Thank you Paul. I thought he was going to kill me, he went crazy."

Paul assured her, "He's never going to get near you again. It's all over now." After a pause Paul said, "Stephanie I need you to keep the cops out of this for me. I don't want to take any chances with..."

Stephanie interrupted, "Whatever you think is best."

Paul said, "Thank you."

Stephanie didn't reply and Paul didn't know what else to say so he just sat there and hoped that having someone there was some kind of comfort for her. He was tempted to hold her hand but he didn't know how she would react if he did so he left it.

A few minutes later Paul heard someone who had entered the room ask loudly in a voice he already recognised, "Stephanie?"

Paul turned and raised a hand to the man that the voice belonged to, a big guy with grey hair and a smaller woman next to him, presumably Stephanie's mom. Paul said, "Over here."

They hurried over and both started speaking to Stephanie who seemed shocked and dazed judging by her responses. No one spoke to Paul as he stood out of the way until a few minutes later when the nurse came back to look at Stephanie's cheek, "Everyone out please, anyway it's two visitors per bed."

Paul said, "Stephanie I'm going to take off so your mom and dad can stay with you."

He heard a quiet, "Ok, thank you Paul."

As everyone moved away from the bed to let the nurse work Stephanie's dad said to Paul, "Excuse my ignorance. Vince McMahon," and held his hand out towards Paul.

Paul shook it and said, "Paul Levesque."

Vince said, "This is my wife Linda."

Linda said, "Hello Paul," as they also shook hands.

Vince continued, "Thank you for taking care of Stephanie. If I had any idea that that son of a bitch was hitting her..."

Paul assured him, "He won't do it again."

"Damn right he won't. Stephanie has moved out of that house as of now. When she gets out of here she's back with us until she gets something else sorted."

Paul nodded, "I think that's a good idea. Vince could I give you number and could you let me know if they admit Stephanie and where she is if they do? I'd like to swing by tomorrow and check on her."

Vince said, "Ok," and Paul told him his number as he entered it into his phone. Paul said, "I'll take off then."

Vince nodded and Linda said, "Thanks again Paul."

Paul left the hospital knowing that he wouldn't sleep when he got home due to worrying about Stephanie and imagining what he would do to the bastard who had hurt her if he got the chance. He thought, "This is kind of crazy. I've only worked for Stephanie for two days and I feel so protective of her. Well, she was willing to give me a chance when most other people wouldn't have even given me the time of day and it was me that she turned to for help. If she needs me to be there for her then I will be. Try and go near her again you son of a bitch... I dare you."


	8. Chapter 8

Paul had been right, he hadn't slept well at all. Vince had sent a text to say that Stephanie had been admitted for at least one night as she had internal bleeding and three fractured ribs. Paul had felt himself boiling when he had read that. Stephanie had been beaten to the point where she had internal bleeding, and for what?

Paul walked out of the house and got into Dave's car. Dave said, "Bro you look like crap."

Paul decided to get this conversation out of the way as early as possible, "I feel like crap. I spent most of the night awake, something bad happened.'

As Dave pulled into the traffic he asked, "What do you mean something bad?"

"Stephanie's asshole boyfriend beat the hell out of her. I had to take her to the hospital, she's still there."

Dave's eyes had widened and he said with concern, "Fucking hell, is she ok? I mean obviously she's not but..."

Paul said, "I got a text from her dad saying that she has internal bleeding and cracked ribs. That's why they admitted her."

Dave mumbled, "Jesus Christ, I knew that guy was a prick but... Do you think we should visit her after work?"

"I'm planning to."

Suddenly a thought came to Dave, "Wait... why were you there at the hospital? How were you involved?"

Paul rubbed his tired eyes with one hand, "She called me when she locked herself in the bathroom and I drove over there. Luckily the son of a bitch had booked it by the time I got there or I'd probably be on my way back to jail by now. I found her curled up on the floor covered in blood, crying her eyes out and with bruising all up her side. I fucking knew it Dave, I saw that she was hurt in the office and I didn't do anything and now she's in hospital."

Dave said, "What could you have done? You don't even know her. Why did she call you of all people?"

Paul shrugged, "I suspected that he was hitting her and I told her to call me if he did it again, I guess that's why."

They drove in silence for a few minutes and Paul closed his eyes attempting to rest. Eventually Dave said, "Did she say anything about work?"

"No, I don't think work was on her mind at the time."

Dave said, "Right, of course. I'll take charge of the place today then."

* * *

><p>Dave pulled into the parking lot at the hospital and said, "Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?"<p>

Paul said, "I don't know if she will even want to see me. I'll send you a text later or something."

Dave smiled, "Ok, don't forget the flowers."

Paul reached into the back of the car and picked up the flowers that Dave had bought at lunch. The card had been signed by everyone in the office. Paul had spared everyone else the details, he had just said that Stephanie had been rushed to hospital and he didn't know when she would be back to work. Paul got out of the car and said, "Thanks for the ride, see you tomorrow."

Dave said, "No problem, call me if you need me to fetch you when you're done."

Paul smiled and said, "Don't worry about it man, I'll get a cab," he closed the door and Dave drove away.

Paul entered the hospital and took a few minutes to follow the signs to the correct ward. As he exited an elevator onto the second floor and walked along the hallways he was hit by the usual smell that was present in a hospital and he thought, "My god I hate these places... but then who doesn't I guess?" Eventually he arrived at the right place and saw that most of the beds that were lined up against the wall on either side of the ward were occupied. He walked along the room and eventually saw Stephanie on the left side near the back. She was lying on her back and he though that she was asleep but as he approached she lifted her head and said, "Paul, hi."

She was tucked under the blanket and he saw that she had a bunch of closely spaced sutures in her cheek which was now swollen and her eye had started to turn black. Paul felt himself getting angry again as he said softly, "Hi, I just wanted to check on you."

She said, "Find a chair from somewhere and sit down."

Paul looked around and saw an empty chair next to a bed in which an elderly woman was sleeping. He walked over and picked it up and then put it down next to Stephanie's bed and sat down. He asked, "How are you feeling?"

Stephanie said sadly, "Terrible, I can't sleep. I've been trying for hours but I can't lie on my left side because of this," she gestured at the sutures in her cheek, "and I can't lie on my right side because my ribs and my stomach hurt too much. Every movement I make is agony and it's a struggle to walk to the toilet. God only knows when I'll be able to get back to work. Are those for me?"

Paul realised that he was still holding the flowers. He had forgotten about them as he listened to how badly Stephanie was suffering, "Oh... yeah. Everyone in the office signed the card."

He handed them over and Stephanie read the card and Paul saw her eyes fill with tears as she said, "That's so sweet, thank you."

Paul asked, "Have they said when you can get out of here?"

Stephanie shifted on the bed and Paul could see that it hurt, "Maybe in a couple of days but they haven't decided yet. I have fractured ribs and internal bleeding. There's no real treatment for rib injuries apart from rest so I guess I can do that at home once they are happy that the bleeding is ok. My side is such a horrible color now."

Paul said, "My god, this is awful. What the hell did he do this for?"

"I don't know whether he figured out somehow or if he was just paranoid but he hit me and accused me of sleeping with you. I was so scared so I just admitted it and he went crazy. He threw me into the wall and kicked me. Then when he broke into the bathroom he kicked me some more. You didn't tell him about us did you?"

Paul assured her, "Of course I didn't. He had been hitting you before last night hadn't he?"

Stephanie hadn't planned to talk to Paul about this but having someone actually seem genuinely concerned about her opened the floodgates and she burst into tears as she explained, "Yes. It was never the same after I lost the baby. I fell down the stairs and I lost the baby, I'm so stupid. I had a life growing inside of me and I killed it. I'm not surprised that Wade hates me."

Paul wanted to hug her but he didn't know if that was appropriate and even if it was it would hurt her with her injured side so he stayed seated and said, "Falling down some stairs isn't stupid Stephanie, it's an accident."

She sobbed, "I killed my baby, our baby."

"No you didn't. Your baby died because of an accident, it's horrible but it's not your fault. Please stop crying."

Stephanie couldn't stop crying, "He was right about everything he said to me. I'm useless, I'm stupid, I'm a liar, I have no friends and I'm crap at running a business and I slept with you behind his back so he was right about me being a slut too."

Paul was appalled by what he had just heard as he realised that Wade had not only been physically abusing Stephanie but mentally as well. He said, "None of that is true, none of it. You're not stupid or useless and you're obviously good at running a business. I'm sure you have friends too and sleeping with me doesn't make you a slut."

She managed to stop herself crying and she said, "Thank you for saying it but I don't believe you. I'm no good to anyone and my parents and my brother are all that I have left in the world."

Paul resisted saying something incredibly tacky like, "You have me," instead he asked, "You have your dad and your brother so why did you call me last night?"

She didn't hesitate, "I knew you would help me. If Wade hadn't left my dad couldn't have fought him off."

"What about your brother?"

Stephanie shifted on the bed again, "He's out of the country. He co-owns a business in China."

There was a pause and Stephanie said with tears again filling her eyes, "Paul... thank you so much for helping me. I've never been so scared and if you hadn't been there I don't know what would have happened."

Paul said, "Well I was there and I'll be there again in the future if you need me. All you have to do is ask or call me, ok?"

Stephanie nodded and said, "I will," and Paul saw what his words meant to her by the look in her beautiful green eyes.

Paul asked, "Do you have everything you need here?"

"Yes thank you, mom and dad brought some things in last night and they'll be visiting again soon. Is everything ok at work?"

Paul smiled, "Yeah don't worry about work. Dave took charge and we haven't had any problems. No need to rush back, make sure you are fully healed first."

Stephanie managed a smile, "Thank you Paul."

They chatted for another few minutes until Paul realised that he was out of things to say and Stephanie looked and sounded very tired so he asked, "Shall I come and visit tomorrow?"

She smiled again, "I'd like that."


	9. Chapter 9

The office was too busy for Paul's thoughts to drift to Stephanie too often, there just was not the time. Dave had been right when he told him about this place, it was really flying. There were new clients approaching the company every day and it was becoming clear even to Paul who had no experience that more staff were going to be needed to cope with it. Stephanie being unable to attend was of course a serious problem in terms of work but her health was more important.

It was only one of a vast number of calls that were received in the office that day and it did not seem particularly out of the ordinary to Michael Cole who answered it, "Good afternoon, McMahon advertising. How can I help?"

A voice almost mumbled, "I have a message to call a Paul... sorry can't read the surname."

Michael helped the person out, "Paul Levesque? I can put you through now..." The line had gone dead.

Paul had heard his name mentioned even over the other conversations in the office as Cole sat at the desk closest to his own, "Who was that?"

Michael shrugged, "Don't know. I could hardly hear the guy and then the line went dead. I'm sure he will call back." Thinking nothing more of it both men resumed their work.

The man who had called had no intention of calling back as he already had the information that he needed, the surname of the bastard who was fucking his girlfriend. Now it was time to make another call to a friend in the police, a man who was referred to by his initials only by his friends. The man answered the call after only a few rings, "Wade, how are you?"

"JBL, I'm good. Could be better though. I need you to do me a solid and look someone up for me."

JBL did not sound keen to fulfil the request, "I could get in shit for that..."

Wade cut him off, "I know. I'll make sure you get a drink for it, okay?" This was a polite way of offering a bribe for the information.

"Why do you want info on someone?"

Wade made himself add hurt to his voice to accompany the very genuine anger, "He's fucking my girl man. She admitted it. She hired him to work in her office and I know he has no experience. Something tells me that he's done time. That's the kind of charity case Stephanie would take on."

Now the voice seemed more helpful, "Steph's sleeping around? That's rough. Okay as long as I 'get a drink for it' I'll look the guy up. What's the name?"

"It's some kind of stupid foreign sounding name, Paul Levesque. Don't ask me how to fucking spell it," Wade said.

"I'll look him up and call you later."

Wade smiled, "Thanks man." He ended the call and then opened a can of beer and slouched back on the couch in the apartment he was now sharing with a friend. He had the place to himself as his friend was at work and Wade was not, having faked an illness that morning. He sat and watched a documentary on the second world war to pass the time until he got his call back. The scenes of violence that he watched seemed appropriate. Soon this guy Paul would be on the receiving end of some unless of course this little background check provided a better opportunity to get revenge on the bastard for going near his girl, his Stephanie.

Nearly forty minutes later the phone finally rang. Not wasting time on pleasantries after confirming the callers I.D Wade answered with, "Anything come up?"

"Yeah. You're friend has just finished a year inside for assaulting someone. Apparently he..."

Wade did not need to know the details. He had a further question, "And if he got arrested for assaulting someone again?"

"He would be in very serious trouble."

This brought a smile to Wade's face, "Thanks bro. We'll get that 'drink' soon. I'll call you."

"Do that."

The call was ended and Wade laughed out loud to himself. This son of a bitch was fucked. It would be interesting to see how well he could fuck other people's women from jail. The only problem was that this Paul asshole needed to get arrested for assaulting someone. Wade was not really keen on taking a beating himself, so what to do?

Suddenly it was obvious. Someone else could take a beating from Paul for him. It was perfect and he knew the perfect two idiots for the job. Wade called another number and spoke to another supposed friend Jamie Noble, "Jamie, dude, I need a favour."

Jamie predictably sounded eager. The chance to do something for someone who at least seemed to like him was a dream ticket for this guy who only really had one genuine friend of his own, "Sure, what is it?"

Wade shook his head as he answered. This idiot was too easy, "There's a guy fucking around with my girl. What do you say you get Joey and come meet me and we teach him a lesson?"

Predictably the little weasel of a man sounded nervous now, "You want us to beat someone up?"

"I didn't say you did I? I said meet me and we will all do it. Three on one. You in or not? I can call someone else..."

Hurriedly Jamie cut him off as he did not want to miss this chance to earn respect, besides what could go wrong with three to one odds? "I'll go pick Joey up and we'll come meet you. Where do you want to meet?"

Wade named the place and told him to come right away. The meeting was set. Now there was only the problem of getting this bastard Paul to show up. That would actually be no problem at all. Another call to the office was all that it would take.

Half an hour later Wade met Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury at the place he had specified and it was time to make the call. After giving a false name to the guy who answered Wade was transferred to Paul who sounded a little confused as he answered the call as he had obviously never heard of the person who was supposedly calling him, "Hello?"

Knowing that his English accent would be instantly recognised Wade said, "Ah it's the samaritan. It's time we had a little face to face discussion my son."

Wade was pleased to hear the anger in the growled response, "We need a face to fist discussion you piece of shit. Just name the time and place and I'll be there."

Mockingly Wade said, "Oh no, I just shit myself," then he twisted the knife with what he already knew would work wonders, "You can have the bed next to the one I put your slut in." It wasn't nice to refer to his Stephanie like that but it certainly got the desired reaction as Paul growled at him, "You won't need a bed asshole, I'll put you in the fucking ground."

"Anyone can talk dick head. Come over here right now and we'll settle this like a couple of men. I'm at home, you know where that is don't you? You got here quickly enough last fucking time."

Paul assured him menacingly, "I'll get there quicker this fucking time, don't worry about that," and then slammed the phone down and charged out of the office without saying a word to anyone with a look of boiling anger on his face.

Wade assured the disconnected phone, "I'm not worried about anything you stupid bastard."


	10. Chapter 10

Not wasting time on calling the elevator Paul charged down the stairs of the office building. He was going to go straight over to Stephanie's house, that was what it was, not Wade's house and he was going to beat the guy to within and inch of his life and the consequences could get fucked. At least he would leave the piece of crap unable to hurt Stephanie again, it would be hard from a wheelchair.

He had been so focussed on what he intended to do that it wasn't until he jogged into the parking lot that he realised the obvious problem. He did not have a car. He got a ride to work with Dave Batista every morning. Now what was he supposed to do? Call a cab and stand here waiting ten minutes like an asshole? No way, he had to borrow Dave's car.

It was as he turned around to run back into the building that Paul saw Dave emerge from the entrance and come jogging towards him yelling as he did so, "What the fuck's wrong with you? You stormed out of the office like you're about to go kill someone."

"Give me your car keys Dave," Paul demanded with his hand outstretched.

Dave reached Paul and asked again, "I said what's wrong with you? What's going on?"

Realising that he was not going to get anywhere without telling Dave what was happening Paul quickly explained, "It's fucking Barrett. He just called me and gave me a bunch of abuse and he was insulting Stephanie too. He told me where he is so I'm going over there to fuck him up once and for all. Give me your keys."

Dave shook his head in disbelief, "Did they remove your brain when you were inside? You lay a finger on that guy you're going down, you do realise that right?"

Shaking with anger as his face reddened Paul insisted loudly, "I don't give a fuck. You didn't see what Stephanie was like in that house. The state she was in, covered in blood, crying her eyes out. You didn't see her Dave. I'll break his fucking neck. You didn't see her."

"I'm not letting you do this. You're not thinking clearly. Do you really think Stephanie wants you to do time for this asshole? Do you think that's what she wants? For fuck's sake calm down," Dave shouted in an attempt to get through to his friend.

"If I leave it now as soon as Stephanie gets out of hospital he's going to be trying to worm his way back in with her. He's been emotionally abusing her for who knows how long, she'll probably agree to go back with him. That sort of thing happens with sick fucks like him, the woman keeps going back to the guy who's abusing her until one day they get killed by them. I've heard about it before and it's not going to happen to Stephanie, Dave. I'll kill him myself if he touches her again. I swear to god I'll strangle him with my bare hands. I fucking mean it." Paul's voice had lowered a little but his anger was still more than obvious.

"I know you mean it. That's more than obvious. I'll tell you what, if he tries to get Stephanie back with him I'll give him a beating myself and warn him off her. Fair enough? At least if I get caught it's my first offence," Dave hoped that the calmness of his voice would in turn calm his friend and it appeared to be working as Paul stood taking in angry, deep breaths for a long moment before hesitantly agreeing, "Okay. Okay, I'll calm down but if I find out he's even raised his voice to her..."

Dave cut in with a raised hand, "I get it. Just remember she's your boss not your daughter or something. Don't go visit her in that hospital and start trying to tell her how to live her life because that's only going to end badly for you. Hopefully she's got enough sense of her own to stay away from the prick. Now let's get back inside."

With another sigh Paul followed his friend back into the building, hoping that he was right and that Stephanie would not be stupid enough to go anywhere near Barrett again.

* * *

><p>More than an hour had gone by since his phone call to Paul before Wade gave up on him showing up. The three men sat waiting in the living room of Wade and Stephanie's house but Wade now considered that maybe the guy really wasn't as stupid as he looked. Reluctantly he told Jamie and Joey, "You two can take off. The cunt is obviously not going to show. I'll call you if I need you."<p>

The two men hurried out of the house and Wade was left angrily trying to think about what to do next. If the guy was too spineless to show up for a fight then there was not much he could do right now. It was time to move on to the other problem that needed to be fixed. He needed to go see Stephanie and try to convince her to come home. He knew that he had gone too far with the beating he had given her even if she did deserve it for cheating on him. Now he would have the problem of her stupid parents trying to keep her from him too. She was his Stephanie and she always would be, no matter what anyone else thought about it.

He would have to try to control his anger a little better with her. If only she had not been stupid enough to lose the baby none of this would be happening, everything had been fine until then. What kind of fucking idiot fell down stairs when they were pregnant? How could she not be careful? He felt himself getting angry with her again and told himself that this was exactly what he needed to stop doing. They needed to get back together, put this behind them and try again for a baby. She would never leave him if they managed to have a baby together. Maybe he could get anger management? Well, he did not actually have to get it, he just had to tell Stephanie that he would get it. That would look good. He stood and picked up his coat and headed for the front door. Time to visit Stephanie in the hospital and begin work on getting her back with him.

* * *

><p>Stephanie had somehow been able to sleep despite the pain and discomfort caused by lying on either of her sides. As she awoke she was lying on her injured ribs and the pain made her gasp. She gently rolled over and as she did so her eyes widened and a louder gasp escaped her mouth as she saw Wade sitting next to her bed with a smile on his face, "Hello princess."<p>

"What are you doing here?" Stephanie sounded terrified as she posed the question and her wide eyes emphasised this to Wade.

Kindly Wade said, "I came to visit you, to apologise. I was out of control Steph and I'm sorry, really sorry. I know that I over reacted and I've looked into anger management."

"You really hurt me. I have fractured ribs and look at my face." Her voice was timid, almost as though she was afraid to tell him about the injuries he had caused her.

"I know... your beautiful face. As I said I'm sorry but you hurt me too, you cheated on me." Wade was used to saying things like this to Stephanie. He knew exactly how to word things to make her putty in his hands and as usual it worked.

Stephanie realised that he was right, all of this had happened because she slept with Paul. It was not Wade who had cheated it was her and she suddenly felt incredibly guilty herself, "I'm sorry. I never should have done it. I don't know what I was thinking."

Wade met no resistance as he took Stephanie's hand in his own. "How about if we both forgive each other and we put this behind us? I was thinking that what started all of this upset was losing the baby. We could try again." He could tell that the kindness in his voice as well as the words he had carefully chosen had gotten through as he saw Stephanie's beautiful green eyes fill with tears and she said quietly, "You really mean that? You really want to try again? With me I mean? After last time... I was so stupid."

"You were but we've been over that before, we don't need to keep doing it. As I said, how about a clean slate and we try again?"

If Stephanie's head had not been a confused mess of emotions before it certainly was now as she looked into his eyes and saw the kindness that she desperately hoped for there. All she wanted was to be happy and to have a child and to have the love she felt for her boyfriend returned in kind as it had been in the past. Here was a chance for all of those things to happen but there was a problem, "I want that, really I do. I want that more than anything but after I get out of here my dad is having me move into his place. He won't take no for an answer, I'm going to have to go stay there until I'm healed at the very least. I'm going to be off work for a couple of weeks too."

This sounded perfect to Wade. Let her mom and dad do her fetching and carrying for her while she was off work and her ribs healed and she could come home to him afterwards. It would save him the trouble of caring for her which would be a lot of work. He could have his friends over and do whatever he wanted for a couple of weeks and all he would have to do was tidy the place before she came home. It would be almost like a two week holiday. With a smile he said, "I don't want to cause any trouble with your family. Take two weeks, get better and you can move back home then. I'll be on my anger management by then so things will be perfect. How does that sound?"

"I really like the sound of that," Stephanie said quietly, now with a hint of a smile appearing on her face.

"I better take off in case your dad shows up. We don't want him making a scene in here. Can I get a kiss?" Wade leaned over and Stephanie kissed him. Every time she kissed him was just as amazing as the first. She was the most beautiful woman in the world and she was his. She always would be his. No one was going to take her away from him, certainly not some long haired steroid junky. He savoured the kiss which lasted for several incredible moments and then said, "I love you Steph."

"I love you too," Stephanie said sweetly. Wade stood and walked out of the hospital ward with a smile on his face. That had worked out perfectly, maybe getting that prick Paul sent back to jail would not be necessary as long as he kept that ridiculous sized nose of his out of business it did not belong in.


	11. Chapter 11

The afternoon of the near confrontation with Wade Barrett had seen Paul at his desk instead of involved in a brawl but he was still spending his time thinking about both Barrett and Stephanie. Sooner or later there was a serious beating in that guy's future whether it came from Paul himself or from Dave Batista. For that reason Paul had decided to stay home that evening rather than visit Stephanie in hospital. He could not trust himself to keep his cool and not start telling Stephanie not to go near the guy again and Dave was right, telling his new boss how to live her life was not a good idea at all.

The following evening however Paul decided to visit Stephanie again. He was calmer now and could rely on himself not to say something he shouldn't. However as he walked onto the hospital ward he could see that the bed Stephanie had been occupying now belonged to another young woman with short blonde hair. He found a nurse at the station nearby and asked her, "My friend Stephanie McMahon was on this ward. Has she been moved or has she been discharged?"

The nurse stopped writing on the chart she was working on and smiled, "Stephanie went home this afternoon."

"Thank you." As he left the ward Paul sent a text message to Stephanie: _Went to visit you but glad to hear you're home. Hope the recovery goes well and hope to see you back at work soon. Paul._

He did not think about the fact that signing his name was unnecessary as Stephanie already had his number. A few minutes later, just as he climbed behind the wheel of his dad's car his phone informed him that he had received a reply: _Sorry Paul I should have let you know that I came home. Thank you again for your help and for visiting me. See you soon x_

For some reason that he did not fully understand Paul felt a little deflated as he read the text message. He had hoped that he might be able to get a little closer to the woman that he obviously had feelings for but now that possibility seemed remote as she had not even thought to let him know she had gone home. He told himself to get in the real world, the woman was his boss and he had only just started working for her. Sure he had slept with her but that had obviously been a drunken mistake on her part and the sad reality was that she probably still considered herself to be in a relationship with Barrett. Dave had been right, he needed to back off from her. Even though he told himself these things it did not stop him from feeling down about it. After driving home he decided that he did not want to spend the night in front of the TV with his parents as he would just sit there feeling sorry for himself and stewing as he thought about Stephanie and that asshole Barrett.

He decided that instead of sitting around the house he would call Dave and hope that he was up for going out somewhere. Getting drunk and having a good time seemed like a very appealing prospect right now even though he was supposed to be saving money towards a car and a place to live. After spending a few minutes in the living room talking to his parents to avoid being impolite he called Dave and quickly got an answer, "Hey buddy. How's Stephanie?"

Paul sighed, "I didn't see her, she's been sent home."

Clearly Dave had picked up on the sigh, "How is that a bad thing?"

"I don't want to talk about it Dave. Let's go out for a drink or something?"

Dave laughed, "You've got it bad for her haven't you? You're pissed off that she didn't call you or something."

"Look I really don't want to talk about it okay? It's obviously not going to happen between us and I know she's going to go back to that prick too. You up for going out or not?"

There was a moment of consideration before the decision was reached, "I guess it's been a while since I had a night out. Fuck it, let's do it. I'll meet you at that Irish bar in an hour. You remember, the one that Daniel Bryan nearly got arrested outside of that night?"

Paul laughed, "How could I forget that? I'll see you there."

* * *

><p>Just over an hour later Paul walked into the noisy bar and looked around. The place was always busy and tonight was no exception. It was the cheapest place in town that wasn't a complete shit hole so most people would start a night out here before moving on to other bars or clubs. Paul soon saw Dave standing fairly near the door. He walked over and Dave handed him a beer, "Got you one in dude. I know you like to tell people I never get a round in so..."<p>

Paul laughed as he took the glass from his friend, "I've thought about starting to call you coconut, it's easier to get a drink out of one." He sipped the beer and sighed in satisfaction as Dave grinned at his joke. "God I need this. It's good to have a job but it's tough work trying to get used to it."

"Bro, don't come out and start talking about work. Golden rule number one," Dave smiled. Paul took his friend's advice and dropped the subject of work, figuring it was for the best as he would only start talking about Stephanie again sooner rather than later. The two men chatted away over their first beer and then walked over to the bar for Paul to get another round in. Paul ordered the two beers and the young male bartender began to fulfil the order.

"Dave? Dave Batista! Oh my god!"

The woman's high pitched excited voice caused Paul to turn around and look in the direction it came from. He saw a very pretty blonde woman approaching them with a drink in her hand and an even more attractive brunette trailing behind her as Dave exclaimed, "Renee! Christ, it's been ages!"

Paul smiled as he watched Dave hug the blonde but his attention was quickly diverted to the brunette. She stood slightly behind her friend and had a smile on her face which looked a little nervous, giving the opposite impression to the word fearless which was printed on the revealing top she wore, and what a chest it revealed. Holy shit, Paul thought, she's fully hot. His attention returned to her face and her brown eyes were looking at him. Hoping he had not been caught he pretended that he had been listening to what Renee was saying.

"It has been ages. I got my phone stolen and lost all my numbers, including yours obviously. Oh excuse me, this is Nikki. Nikki this is Dave."

Nikki smiled and greeted Dave who then introduced Paul to the two women. Nikki and Renee already had drinks so when Paul and Dave's beers arrived Dave invited, "Want to go sit somewhere?"

Scanning the busy bar Renee pointed at a booth near the back which was about to be vacated by three people who were standing and putting their coats on, "Over there." The four hurried over and as soon as the booth came free they sat down with the men on one side and the women opposite. The table was loaded with empty glasses but that would be fixed soon enough.

Inevitably Renee and Dave who were opposite each other soon started catching up excitedly which left Paul and Nikki to make slightly nervous, awkward conversation. After a few minutes of this Nikki mentioned her sister recently getting married.

"I've never been to a wedding."

Nikki smiled but her eyes narrowed in suspicion of a lie, "Come on now."

"It's true. Well maybe when I was a kid but I can't really remember one."

"Weddings are amazing," Nikki gushed, "I love things like that, the ceremony, the dresses, everything. Brie and Daniel looked so great." With a giggle she added, "Quite an achievement for Daniel. He looks like a caveman most of the time."

This description caused Paul's eyes to widen, "You're not talking about Daniel Bryan?"

"Yeah I am," Nikki's surprise was obvious, "You know him? I mean, obviously you do."

"Yeah I do. Hey Dave, you didn't tell me Daniel got married! Nikki is only his wife's sister! Would you believe it? I haven't even seen him since I got out of..." Paul stopped himself but not quickly enough and silence descended on the table as the two women knew what the missing word would have been.

"Uh... Yeah. They got married crazy fast after getting together," Dave fumbled and then to Nikki, "I I thought I'd seen you somewhere before."

Nikki was still looking at Paul as she answered Dave, "Yeah." Everyone was taken by surprise by her directness, "So jail huh?"

Paul closed his eyes for a moment before deciding he might as well tell his story now, "I just did a year for beating a guy up. He raped my friend's sister and the five-o weren't going to do anything so I took it upon myself to serve justice. Sadly the justice system apparently doesn't like that kind of thing."

Looking at both of the women for a reaction Paul could pick up on little from Renee as she was studiously drinking from her glass but Nikki helped him out by saying, "Bastards. You did the right thing."

That was a relief to say the least for Paul as just like that the awkward subject was out of the way quickly and the conversation resumed. Half an hour later everyone's drinks were empty. Renee picked up her purse and stood, "I'll get these, come help me Nikki?"

"Sure."

The two women left the booth and headed for the now crowded bar. It was obvious that this would take some time. Paul watched Nikki leave as he asked Dave, "So how do you know Renee?"

"Knew her in school but lost touch a couple years ago. She's with a guy called Dean, surprised they're still together to be honest. Dude seemed to have a screw loose to me but I never had a problem with him and he treats her right so good for her. She's a real nice girl."

Looking at Nikki's shapely behind as she stood near the bar Paul said, "Seems like Nikki is too."

"Never met her before." With a laugh Dave added, "I bet her personality is what you noticed."

Innocently Paul said, "Huh?"

Dave wore a huge grin, "She got them tig bitties son."

Paul laughed loudly, "I know, right? You know they can't be real though."

"Who gives a fuck?"

"I know someone who doesn't," Paul confirmed.

As he slapped his friend on the shoulder Dave asked, "You going to try for her number?"

"Does a bear shit in the woods?"

It was a thoroughly enjoyable night for all four as after a few drinks in the Irish bar they left and went to a club. Dancing was ordinarily not Paul's thing as he was too big and awkward to be good at it but he was talked into it by Nikki. As he danced with her he was blown away, she really was so hot that it was actually ridiculous. Paul inwardly cursed the fact that he lived with his parents as it just felt so awkward to invite someone back there. Sure he had done it with Stephanie but afterwards he had told himself never to take a woman back there again, after all he was not a teenager. He absolutely had to find himself somewhere of his own live as soon as possible now that he had a wage coming in. For tonight he would just have to settle for Nikki's number, if he could get it. Sure enough at the end of the night as Renee and Nikki were about to climb into their cab and Renee swapped numbers with Dave he did get it along with a brief kiss, just enough to give him an idea what Nikki tasted like and enough to leave him wanting more.

As Dave got into a cab with Paul he was pleased to see that the number one objective of the night had certainly been accomplished. His friend had clearly managed to get this stupid thing with Stephanie out of his head before it went too far. Dave grinned, "You're in there dude. You are going to call her, right?"

Having had several drinks too many Paul slurred sarcastically, "No Dave. I've got a number for one of the hottest women I've ever met, with the biggest tits I've ever seen and I'm not going to call her."


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning Paul had a couple of issues on his mind the first of which was a hangover. His mother helped him out a little with that problem by bringing him a fried breakfast in bed but she could do nothing about the second problem which was when should he call Nikki?

He was not vastly experienced with dating women and therefore was unsure how long to leave it before calling her. He was definitely going to call but not today. Calling the next day seemed to him as though it would scream desperation but he did not want to leave it too long and seem disinterested either.

Eventually he had decided to leave it for a few days before calling Nikki and it was when he was at work on Monday that he decided that today would be the day to call. He was having a tough day dealing with clients who were impatient at Stephanie's continued absence from the office. He was surprised that some people did not even seem to care when he gave his well rehearsed white lie of an excuse that Stephanie had been in an accident and fractured some ribs and would probably not be in for another week at least. Instead they seemed more interested in their stupid advertising being looked at promptly and demanding that someone else go to meet with them. Paul was tempted to be rude and wondered if this was the right job for him. Dealing with people did not seem to be something he was particularly good at. It was for this reason that he decided to call Nikki on his lunch break and hopefully get a reason to cheer up.

At one pm he walked out of the office and took the elevator down to the lobby and then walked out into the parking lot where he could talk in privacy and without the background chatter of the office. He felt nervous as he was a little unsure about what to say to Nikki or what to expect in return. He took out his phone and found Nikki's name in his depressingly short list of contacts and called the number. It was only as he was listening to the ringing tone that he wondered if Nikki might be at work too and therefore unable to answer but eventually this was proved not to be the case as she did answer, "Nikki Bella."

Very businesslike was Paul's first impression before he thought that Bella was a strange surname and cursed himself for failing to ask what she did for a living. How had he chatted to her all night and not asked about that? "Hi Nikki, this is Paul Levesque, we met the other night." He was disappointed that he sounded as awkward as he felt.

"Hi Paul, wait a second." Paul could tell that there was a smile on her face just from her tone and it put him at ease. She then spoke to someone else, "I'm going to take my break now okay?" A few moments went by without anything from the other end of the phone until Paul could hear traffic. Clearly Nikki had also walked outside, "Hey Paul, sorry about that. How are you?"

"I'm good and you?"

"Great thanks."

Now was the time. Paul willed himself not to flounder, "Nikki I was uh... wondering if you would like to go out somewhere maybe?" Not bad, only one hesitation. He was happy with that and even more so with the cheerful response which arrived quickly, "Sure."

It was only at this point that Paul realised he was in the shit. He had been so busy worrying about actually asking Nikki to go out with him that he had not actually planned anything to offer her if she agreed. He silently cursed his stupidity as he stalled for thinking time, "That's great. Any night that's best for you?"

"Hey, how about Friday? I was talking with Brie, my sister, last night and she invited me to dinner with her and Daniel. You could come too, I mean you said you haven't seen Daniel since you got out, right?"

She was very forthright in the way she spoke and Paul liked that. It reminded him of the word fearless on her top and that reminded him of her two biggest assets. God damn they were amazing. "That sounds great actually, I'd like that." In a split second Paul realised he had another problem. His parents were going to be visiting family out of town for a long weekend, he would not be able to borrow his dad's car Friday night so how could he pick Nikki up? In a fucking cab? Damn it. Nothing came quickly to mind so he decided just to be honest even if it sounded lame, "This will sound pathetic but I don't have a car, yet I mean. So uh... I can't..."

Nikki cut him off cheerfully, "Don't worry I can pick you up. Text me your address and I'll come over about seven if that works?"

"That sounds great. I'll see you Friday."

"You will, bye Paul." With that the call was ended and Paul was left with a smile on his face and feeling happy for the first time in a very long time. It could hardly have gone much better than that. Now all he had to do was wait until Friday.

* * *

><p>The days were dragging by that was for sure. Paul did not often have something to look forward to in life but now he did, Friday night. If only it would come around quicker. So far he had made it to Thursday morning and he was just settling in at his desk with his first coffee of the day. Keeping things tidy was not one of Paul's strengths and as he opened his top drawer to take out a notepad he noticed that the drawer was a mess, in fact his entire desk was a wreck. Deciding that this could be the first job of the day he began removing things from his drawers and stacking them on the desk. He was bent down to his bottom drawer when he heard the voice.<p>

"Hi Paul."

His head snapped up quickly, "Stephanie! I mean, hi." She looked great considering what she had been through a relatively short time ago. The cut on her cheek was still visible as she smiled at him although it was healing well. He took in that she was wearing a dark grey suit, she was dressed for business. She was back at work this soon?

"Surprised to see me?"

"You could say that," Paul confirmed as he sat up in his chair, "You're back to work already?"

"Yeah. My side is still sore but I was going out of my mind at my parents place. I'm too much of a workaholic and," she paused, "Well, it's good to be here."

Of course Paul realised that she had quickly changed the way she had ended sentence and Paul felt that he knew what the original version would have been. She was going to say that her parents were giving her a hard time. It was no secret what about either, she had told them that she was going back to Barrett, Paul knew it almost for certain. God damn it. He kept away from the subject himself as that was clearly what she wanted, "Well I'm glad you're back. Coffee?"

Stephanie smiled sweetly, "Yes please and where's Dave? I need him to bring me up to speed with what's been going on here."

Looking around the office Paul could not see his friend either, "He's here, he gave me a ride in. Maybe in the men's room. I'll send him in when he comes back and I'll get that coffee for you."

"Thank you. How are you settling in? Enjoying it?"

The way she spoke was so warm and friendly Paul immediately asked himself a question that he had asked many times before, how could someone hurt this woman? It brought the image of her on her bathroom floor that night back to him and he felt the anger rising inside of him but he managed to smile and answer the question, "I'm finding it tough honestly but I do like it and I'm sure I'll get used to it."

"Well no doubt my not being here hasn't helped at all so I'm sorry. I'll take that coffee please." With that she headed for her office leaving Paul a little stunned. She had just apologised for not being at work after what she went through. He shook his head as he went to fetch Stephanie's coffee.

* * *

><p>That night Stephanie had a surprise in store for her boyfriend. He had no idea that she was returning home this soon. She had her car loaded up with the things her parents had brought for her from the house when she was in hospital and despite their protests she was happy to be going back home. She wished that people would not try to run her life for her, she did not do it with others so why did they feel the need to do it with her? If she wanted to live with the man she loved she would do. He was taking anger management classes now and he was a changed man. Not only that he wanted to try for another baby, that was the best news ever. All she wanted was for them to be happy and to have a baby. Was it too much to ask?<p>

When she arrived home and pulled her BMW onto the driveway she saw Wade's Mercedes was there which brought a smile to her face. She could not wait to see him. After parking the car she killed the engine and awkwardly got out. Getting in and out of the car was one of the toughest things to do with sore ribs.

Her heart began to beat faster in anticipation of being reunited with her boyfriend as she opened the front door and walked in. "Hey! Surprise!" She called out as she walked in. Sounds of gunfire and explosions were coming from the living room and she knew immediately that Wade was playing his Xbox on the Battlefield game he liked so much. The gunfire continued but he appeared in the doorway to the living room and his smile matched her own, "Hello princess. You're home already?"

"I am," Stephanie beamed as she walked into his arms. It felt so good to be held, especially as he did so carefully to avoid hurting her side.

"Look at me," she was told softly. She did as she was asked and Wade kissed her before telling her, "You're beautiful and I missed you."

Stephanie blushed and hid her face in his chest, "I missed you too. Can you get my things out of my car please? I can't carry much yet."

"Okay. Let me finish this game and I'll do that and then make us something to eat." With that he released her and hurried back to the Xbox to get back in the fight. Stephanie sat next to him on the couch and watched the frantic action on the screen with a smile still on her face. It was great to be back home with the man she loved.


	13. Chapter 13

If only just once things would just be simple, just for once. Was that so much to ask? Paul had thought that he had everything covered for his date with Nikki but of course something had to go wrong. He had realised the day before that while Nikki agreeing to pick him up for the date had meant that he did not need to worry about finding out where the place was and how to get there he still had a problem. He did not know what kind of place it was which meant that he did not know how to dress. He did not want to go over dressed and look like a dick or even worse go under dressed and look like an ever bigger dick. He had decided to call Daniel and after a few minutes of catch up chat Daniel had said that he would be wearing a shirt and pants, nothing too special, so Paul had decided to do the same.

Friday's lunch break had been spent having his hair cut and his beard trimmed and then buying a new shirt. He had some dark blue pants so he had gone for a light blue shirt. He could polish up the shoes that he wore to the office and he would look at his best. He really wanted to make a good impression with Nikki. It was his first date in a very long time and he did not intend for it to be a failure. It was not essential to score, he was not that kind of guy. If that was what Nikki wanted then of course he would be up for it but if it appeared that she wanted to take things slower than that then that would be fine too. It would be nice to catch up with Daniel and to meet his wife too. She must be great looking if she was Nikki's sister, how could she not be?

His expectation had been that the work day would really drag but the office was so busy that there had not really been any time to dwell on it. Stephanie had been in again although she was obviously still having trouble with her injured ribs. Every time Paul saw her wince our even move awkwardly it made him angry. He had been tempted to outright ask her if she had gone back to Barrett although he was already sure that she had. He had thought about taking Dave up on his offer to give Barrett a beating and warn him off but he worried that if anything the chances were that it would force Stephanie closer to him as she would feel sympathy towards the bastard. There was nothing Paul could really do apart from hope that Stephanie did not get hurt again but if she did Barrett was going to get the beating of a lifetime there was do doubt about that.

Those were not his concerns at the present moment, there was something much more immediate to deal with. He had taken a shower and brushed his teeth and then fixed his hair into a ponytail. It was at that moment that he realised that he had forgotten to iron his new shirt when he got home. Silently cursing himself he had dressed in his pants and freshly polished shoes and headed downstairs to the kitchen to rectify the error. That was when the problem had emerged.

"Why me? What's wrong with this fucking iron?" He exclaimed to the heavens.

The power was turned on, there was water in it, all of the settings were correct but nothing was happening. Paul shook his head in disbelief. Nikki would be here to pick him up in under fifteen minutes if she was on time and now he could not iron his damn shirt. There was only one thing to do, head next door to Mrs. Allen and ask to borrow an iron. The problem was that Mrs. Allen was one of those people that once you started talking to them she would not stop. This was already on the way to being a disaster. Having no alternative Paul quickly pulled on a t-shirt which had been drying nearby and headed around to the neighbouring house. The material was still damp against his skin but he did not care. Time was all that mattered. He rang the doorbell and waited. And waited. In frustration he turned around and then he realised that the neighbours car was not there in front of the house where it usually was. The old couple were out somewhere. "God damn it!" Now what? Head back home and try to fix the stupid iron was the only idea that came to him. If he could not fix it then he would just have to wear the shirt that he had worn all day in the office and hope that it did not look too creased.

A further five minutes had rushed by as Paul found a new fuse and changed the one that was in the plug for the iron. If willpower alone could force an electrical appliance into action then the outcome would not have been in doubt as he reconnected the power. "Come on, damn it." He turned the temperature setting up and the dial lit up. It was working! Was it even possible to be this pleased that an iron had turned on?

As if on cue almost to the second that the ironing was complete Paul's phone began to make its way slowly across the kitchen table behind where he was standing, driven by it's own vibrations. Upon turning around he saw the name Nikki Bella flashing at him so with a smile he snatched the device, "Hey Nikki."

"Hi Paul," the same cheerful tone as the previous occasion they had chatted on the phone, "I'm outside."

"Two minutes, I'll be right out."

"No rush, I'm a little early."

No rush. If only she knew. Another smile crept onto Paul's face as he pulled off the t-shirt and replaced it with the finally ironed, much smarter shirt. There was only one thing left to do and that was check himself in the mirror in case he had made some kind of error in his appearance but no, he looked at his best. He had money, he had his phone, had his keys. Time to go. He hurried along the hallway and opened the front door. The throaty rumble of a car's engine greeted him. It was coming from the silver car parked directly in front of the house.

"Fuck off," he mumbled to himself in utter surprise as he pulled the door closed, "That's not Nikki's car." He could plainly see that it was though as he could see her sitting behind the wheel and now the window was descending.

"Hey!"

Not being anything like an expert on cars Paul did not know what he was looking at but two things were made obvious by the appearance and the sound; The car was very expensive and very powerful. "Hi," he greeted Nikki as he walked towards the car hoping that he did not look as stunned as he felt. As he walked around the front of the car he glanced at the badge. Aston Martin. Where did you get the money for something like this Nikki?

He climbed into the car and smiled at Nikki as he made himself comfortable in the leather seat. The car even still had the smell of something new. Nikki was wearing a very light grey dress, she looked great but something told Paul that the dress was not crazy expensive, not like the car. "You look great," he informed his date with a smile.

An easy smile was returned to him, "You too. Ready to eat?"

"I could eat a horse," Paul confirmed.

Nikki giggled, "I don't think they serve that but with steak who can really tell?" With that Nikki pulled the powerful machine away from the curb and it purred as it made its way slowly down the street to the nearby intersection. Paul could help himself no longer, "What is this thing? It's amazing."

"Aston Martin V12 Vantage S. Nice huh?"

"Very," Paul agreed as he made yet another inspection of the interior. It seemed a little strange to him the way that she had given the name of the vehicle so specifically. Cars seemed like an odd thing for a girl to be interested in for some reason. He told himself not to be sexist.

"It's a shame it's not mine." The car stopped at a red light upon reaching the intersection.

"Not yours?"

The light changed and Nikki moved off carefully again, making a left turn. "No, I wish. I work for my dad, we sell cars. Sometimes I get to borrow one," she grinned at him briefly before returning her attention to the road.

Paul decided to attempt a joke. He remembered from the first time they had met that Nikki had a ready sense of humor, "Damn, just when I thought I had landed myself a rich girl." He was pleased that he drew a laugh, "I'm not rich and you haven't landed anything." The car stopped at another red light.

"So, cars?" Paul enquired.

Nikki looked over at him and grinned again, "I know what you're thinking. Why is a girl interested in cars? Honestly I don't know, I just always have been. I should probably warn you quite openly that I'm a major league tomboy and also that my language gets terrible on the road. Other people are just so useless at driving and it infuriates me. I can't help it."

Her openness was already a quality that Paul liked a lot about Nikki. He took her announcements in his stride, "Well if you like cars so much then I guess you have your ideal job huh?"

Suddenly her voice took on a less cheerful, almost sad tone, "I like my job but it's not my ideal job. I wanted to be a fighter pilot."

Paul's eyebrows raised, "A fighter pilot? Jesus Christ. That's something different for sure. Why didn't you do it?"

Nikki glanced over at him again for a half second before looking back at the traffic that was crawling up to the next intersection, "I tried but I couldn't do it. My eyesight isn't good enough, I'm wearing contacts right now." He could tell by the way she spoke how much the news must have devastated her at the time.

"I'm sorry," was all he could think of to say.

"Don't be. We all have setbacks in life and we go on. I've had worse than that happen to me in the past but I'm happy. I'm sure you know what I mean."

She was plainly referring to his year in jail but she was wrong in assuming that he had moved on from it and that he was happy. True, he had a job now at least but his life was still in a mess in every other respect. Even so he had no intention of complaining to Nikki about it. He also wondered what she meant by something worse happening in her past but it did not seem right to ask so instead he left a suitable pause and then went for a change of subject, "Have you eaten at this place before?"

"No but Brie says it's real nice. She's started on the whole vegetarian thing since she's been with Daniel. I don't know how people can live like that personally."

Paul chuckled again at the way Nikki spoke without any attempt to conceal her feelings. He considered telling her that he was vegetarian himself just to see how she would react to it but before he could the car was making a turn again and Nikki had returned to her favourite subject, "Want to hear this thing in serious action?" He looked over at her again and took in for the first time the way she sat behind the wheel. Her seat was further back than most people would have it, she looked more like she was driving a kart than a car worth however much this thing was worth. There was no harm in seeing what she could do, apart from having some kind of horrendous accident of course.

"Sure. How fast does it go?"

"I had one hundred twenty up on the way to your place."

Okay so the girl was nuts. One hundred and twenty miles per hour on a public road? Holy shit. At least the fact that she was crazy was out in the open early on. They were now on a much wider road and there was only one car directly in front of them. A few moments later they came onto a long straight section, "Hold on to your ass," Nikki giggled before there was a load roar from the engine and Paul was forced back into his seat by the acceleration. He had expected a short blast of power just to show off what the machine could do but she was still on the other side of the road easily tearing past the car that had been in front them, shifting easily through the gears with the stick shift. A glance at the instrument panel told Paul that they quickly passed one hundred and ten miles per hour before a turn approached and Nikki had to slow.

"Amazing car huh?"

Paul did not have the same enthusiasm that she did but it certainly been a rush of some kind. "It's a real nice car, yeah." He would rather have used the journey to get to know Nikki a little better but then he figured that in a way he had. He had already known that she had a keen sense of humor but had now seen that she was confident around him even though this was the first period of time they had spent together without the company of Dave and Renee. She was also clearly a fun loving person, blasting along that stretch of road had brought a huge grin to her face.

She might not have been what he had expected but she certainly had a unique character and he liked her. He liked her a lot but he began to worry. Aside from the fact that he had been in jail his life was basically uninteresting and boring. He lived with his parents and did not have much of a social life. It seemed to him that it was hardly the kind of background to impress a girl but he decided to just be himself and have a good time. If she liked him great, if not he would move on. It certainly would not be the first time that things had not worked out for him, that was for sure.

* * *

><p>"Un fucking real! He drove the tank over a mine! Stupid cunt!"<p>

Stephanie looked at her boyfriend raging at his teammates on the Xbox over the top of her magazine. This had been going on for the last ten minutes. She presumed that he was on the losing end of the battle that was taking place on the screen. If the surround sound system being turned up too loud with the constant gunfire, explosions and occasional vehicle sound effects was not enough to give her a headache then the shouting was certainly starting to get her there. "Could you please turn that down? Just a little bit?" She asked gently.

Wade did as he had been asked without comment and Stephanie returned to reading, for thirty seconds at least.

"Fuck off man! Bullshit! This is fucking stupid!"

The magazine lowered again to reveal Wade's character dead on the floor. Again. Stephanie wondered why he played the game if he was firstly crap at it and secondly angry if he got killed. It seemed obvious that if you played a war game you would get killed. It did not seem to make sense to her. If you are not enjoying something why would you continue to do it? For another five minutes it continued before Stephanie could take it no more. "Wade, could you stop shouting?" Her voice was the same as always, soft, kind, "It's giving me a headache."

Her boyfriend jumped up from the couch and angrily turned off the Xbox, letting the controller drop to the floor with a crash. For a fleeting moment Stephanie wondered if his aggression would next be directed at her but he sighed and then mumbled, "Sorry. Too many fucking idiots. Come over here, we'll watch some TV." Stephanie brightened at that and tossed her magazine down beside the chair she was sitting before hurrying over to sit next to Wade. His anger management must be working, that was great news. He wrapped an arm around her and she nestled into him as he turned on the TV. She did not care which show he selected, she was happy just to be held by, loved by, the man she loved so much in return. Maybe later they could make a start on what they had agreed on when he had visited her in hospital? What she wanted more than anything was to try for another baby. She wanted a second chance for both of them to be parents after her stupidity had ruined the first.


End file.
